Letter to the Editor
Anti-Native comments
Published Sunday, September 7, 2008
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To the editor:
Every single damn time there’s an article, editorial or letter to the editor with the word “Native” or concerning Natives in the News-Miner, a flood of hateful, bitter, demeaning, racist, insulting, upsetting and oppressive comments show up from mainly non-Native bloggers. I guarantee 100 percent that there’s going to be some for this one.
Go on the Web and look when this is published. It’ll clearly show the sheer animosity, stigmatization, prejudice and racism that is prevalent in Fairbanks. When I bring a friend up from the states, I’m so ashamed and embarrassed about the stigmatization I have to fight just to get a cup of coffee.
I had no idea the racial tension was this bad in Fairbanks. The pressure is high, and like the natural law of power-waves, if it reaches a boiling point there’s going to be a L.A. riot-type detonation someday.
It almost happened when the Hartman case occurred. The elephant in the room. I don’t know who is right or wrong, I’ve never studied the case thoroughly. A history of that will float around Fairbanks for years to come, unless we start bridge-building instead of continuing this race war.
How can you raise your children to shun or avoid Natives? It’s inhumane. How can you do that? How can you raise your children in such an atmosphere? We have to start getting along! We Athabascans only want to live our lives, do our own thing, raise our kids and go hunting every now and than. What’s so troubling about that? Teachers, preachers, assembly-members and civic leaders are the ones in a position to do something about this fire that’s burning people. The fire of racism. Schoolteachers are the key. They can do something about it, and if you have apprehensiveness toward dark-skinned people taught to you by your paranoid anglo parents, then shed it because future generations are counting on you.
Hartman and the Native families are counting on you. I’m counting on you, and my future “children” are counting on you. Teach kids about love, truth, justice and showing kindness toward their fellow men. It’s in your hands.
Community Discussion
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While I agree that there is lots of racism going around the solution does not start with the teachers in the schools. It starts at home with the parents. Love, truth, justice and kindness is something that is a learned characteristic and should start being taught to children at birth. Yes teachers need to have a clear mind and not show predjuice whether they are themselves to help rolemodel the children.
I agree there are ignorant people, these people come in all sizes and colors and hate on others for being different. Its not like the whole of Fairbanks is out to get the native population, or for that mater the Fairbanks women or military ect. Letters like this continue to show the ignorance and place the blame elsewhere. This time it is toward parents next time what it will be the government or the out of towners. This is a argument that is over done and all to often being used a crutch to keep down the same path. You want to make a difference in Fairbanks, don't write a letter to spur more unkindness, be proactive and in your everyday actions and respect will be earned no matter what your skin color, size, sex, or age.
I am native. Growing up I was ashamed of it because kids in school made fun of me. As an adult I have nothing but pride in my heritage. I have been fortunate in my adult life to not be discriminated against. I am not a college graduate, but I did finish high school. I have previously worked in professional positions, before becoming a stay at home mother. I never had difficulty obtaining employment or felt that co-workers thought less of me.
In one job, I did have an irate customer that would call multiple times of day to the point of harrassment making unreasonable demands. I was always courteous, however he loudly and angrily accused me of discrimination and racial hate because he was native. I was shocked. I calmly informed him that I too am native, and I in no way hate anyone or help them less due to their race. He hung up on me.
I'm not saying that native's aren't discriminated against, as I have experienced it previously in life. I think that we all have the responsibility to not just assume discrimination in each circumstance of life. If something or someone doesn't go our way or treat us the way we expect we should not assume automatically it's due to race. Maybe some of it is, but I always chalk it up to them having a bad day or just a bad attitude in general. Something to think about.
Mr. Gilbert - I hope it can all be figured out someday and someday soon. To say we're all the same would be silly - as each person is unique, but to say that we are all not worth the same would be ignorant. To be treated as less-than based on something as superficial as skin color...this is something that should not happen. Personal behavior choices are a much better indicator for all of us than our biology and genetics. I sure like to think that there is less racism in the world, but obviously there are many who experience something different.
I don't have a solution, but I'm open to looking for one - for all of our children.
To be honest I too had my encounter with racism in higher ranks in the Army. But still I gave 100% to soldiers under me even if it meant defending their lives with my own. Caring for a soldiers in combat has nothing to do with race. We are all doing what is right for the American people. Today I am retired and came home to live peacefully in my own back yard and still I have to deal with this plaque of evil human practices. My late Indian father who also served 35 years in the Army once told me there will be people who has evil thoughts against your skin but never forget that millions of good people died defending your freedom during WWII.
"I had no idea the racial tension was this bad in Fairbanks"
Anything like being a white guy without "proper escort" in any number of villages?
I too am a proud Koyukon Alaskan Native. I know what my native name is, my children have native names and we are proud to come from our culture. NO one can take this away from us. If people discriminate or down grade us I believe that they are just showing how ignorant they are. We come from thousands of years of history and I believe in raising my children with our values and beliefs and no one will be able to take that away from them. They may be discouraged or ashamed of this as a teenager, but I will be there supporting them and assuring their well instilled confidence. I know that there are people here that are prejudice and have encountered many bad situations because of that but I try to understand. Not to hate back but to take that hate they feel for me, and turn that around to either educate others or to let others see this misunderstanding.
I know that sometimes people discriminate against natives but this does not mean that native people should do the same thing against the white population. If you feel wronged then try to do the opposite and do the right thing towards someone of that same race. We are a strong, hardworking, understanding, well populated community and nothing should stop us from helping others to see more clearly. My children are mostly native and will be looked at as native children but they also have a white background that they do know about. They know what they come from (all the way across the country) and have bonds with that side of their family. I am proud to say they will know no difference.
I truly don't believe that the average Native person in Fairbanks is treated any differently than anyone else. It's people's attitudes that are against Natives. We non-Natives don't think twice when we talk to or do business with a Native, but there is always THAT stereotype. My daughters had many Native friends in school and most students made fun of and belittled drunken Natives....I mean chronic inebriants. Look around and see what I mean, most of the people you see staggering around town are....guess what. Spend some time observing the FMH emergency room and surrounding area and see what I mean.
Most Native people are fine up-standing people but we need to do something to get the chronic drunks treated permanently-not just a place to 'sleep it off' and then send them back on the streets until tomorrow. There are people of other races that fit it this catagory too, but not in as great a percentage. I'm not bashing Natives, just being truthful.
Gildy, I feel your pain. But you have created these chronic inebriants (CI) for your own city profits. We here in the villages are dealing with your CI for a long time. Can we change our ways?
Why don't little JoeBtfsplk-If he doe'nt take his name in vine to assimlilate his theory to the lower class. As history dictacts Columbus only found the Haiti islands not the US. I rest my case.
Pipe dreams!I think a majority of people will always hate other people for a million reason's and race is just another excuse.What's the end goal anyway?I don't get it.
Gildy.. there maybe be more Native chronic inebriates, but there are more non Native drunk drivers... not to say there are not a fair share of white chronic inebriates in this town and visa versa. I'll take a chronic inebriate over a drunk driver any day!!
I discriminate against ignorance, not skin color... and I agree with fbksreader... this letter only provides fuel for the ignorant posters of this site to display their hateful voices, because this author has assumed non Native folks are to blame for the discrimination he receives... and yah know what they say about assumptions!
is not... I need some coffee! Good Morning Fairbanks!! Rise and shine it's time for another day of complaining!!
It has accured for an appropriate time, we all know it's about time grandfather rights on historic native soil is realized. We were here first and you did not therefore teach your kids to respect the first people of this land.
Wisechief, if you want respect, you have to give respect... It is time to get over the whole 'I was here first theory'... and look at coexistence... ‘cause old whitey is not leaving any time soon. The majority of us are here because we love Alaska. It is our home... regardless if we have been here for several months or generations... white, black, native and everything in-between. Some non Native families we working on 4th,5th and 6th generation Alaskans... just because we are not Native... does not mean we do not love Alaska, the culture ,and our way of life the same as a native family that has been here for thousands of years... And as soon as more people are able to see past the dividing colors of our state and view us unified as ALASKANS... we all will be able to celebrate the uniqueness of our lifestyle here in the frozen north and stop this ridiculous debate over who has been here longer! Way to fuel the fire Wisechief! Way to fuel the fire!
Who cares. I sure don't. I'm native and I don't care how the white people look at me or what they do to me. I just mind my own business and work and stay away from downtown.
So Mr. Gilbert get on with your life because this will always go on. And please DO NOT write another stupid letter like this again. It's EMBARASSING.
Wow - you can't even get a cup of coffee...please publish the name of the business that has hampered you from getting one....
I was raised in a town that was 90% black...and being the 'whitey' that I am - I was teased, harassed and beaten up - several times with words to the effect of 'Lets kick the S@#$ out of the white kid'
Do I harbor resentments - nope.... The only people I resent are the ones that whine and complain and live in the ghetto of their own minds - a la Wisechief....
A black man is running for President...a white women, for vice-president...but I guess it is easier to cry racism then pull yourselves up like i did.
How many comments have we read about the racism of the white people that have taken all the Native lands and have given nothing in return...how many comments telling whitey to leave the state?
Maybe a letter or two with appreciation for all the advancements brought by these evil pioneers would be nice...I appreciate them AND flush toilets, snowmachines, firearms, capitalism, etc etc etc
Next, an editorial addressing the reverse racism I and others experience on these blogs would be nice...
Get over yourselves and stop using skin color as an excuse for mediocrity - it doesn't cut it anymore
James, I am a full blooded Athabascan lady. I work, I pay taxes,I pay for medical insurace, I pay my own bills, I provide food for my family, I buy all our clothing and also pay for all the little extras that I need.
I DO THIS ALL WITH THE MONEY I WORK FOR, NOT FROM SOME GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE YOU SEEM TO BELIEVE THAT EVERY SINGLE NATIVE PERSON LIVES OFF OF.
So there, that's one less Native you can discriminate against.
Most of the prejudice comes from interaction with only a choice few of your "people". The same is true for any race.
My husband likes to hunt, but everytime he goes down river (where he has hunted for more than 20 years) he is harassed by Natives. He always comes back with a good story for me. Most people would be a little intimidated and angry at your race for being treated rudely for no reason - only because he is white.
My husband is not like most people though. He knows that it is not all of the Natives that are this way - because he has Athabascan friends down there too.
Unfortunatly, not everyone has a large enough mind to grasp the fact that there are good people in every race.
James-- You're so full of crap your eyes must be brown. However, you did hit on one point that makes sense as to why there is so much hate, especially in the Fairbanks region. I read the comments on a lot of the FDNM editorials, most times I try not to comment myself since I am concidered an Outsider. In your comment you said it is only the Natives that receive multiple benefits, both state and federal, simply because they are Native and that is not reasonable but it is a fact and it is the root of the problem.-- The real problem, from an outsider's point of view, is that some of the white folks are jealous because they don't receive as much as the Natives. You go on to speak of entitlemennt. Where's the justice? You receive Alaska dividend funds, that you don't work for, yet you think you're entitled to them. You can't have it both ways, your own words. Life is too short, learn to get along. Good day to all.
Flatlander again takes aim at our entitlement mentality. It's an easy target the self-suficient, independent Alaskan is a rare breed. Sourdoughs are rolling over in their graves over what we've become.
anyone that automaticaly blames all the hate on the white guy is guilty of discrimination themselves.
fishy--You must have changed your name to know me as you think you do. Don't worry, I'll soon figure out what name you used to go by.
Mr. Gilbert, As I see it, and would assume, everyone should look at it this way,
WE WERE ALL BORN NAKED!
James, I am Native and I don't get multiple benefis simply because I'm Native. I am a WORKING and PRODUCTIVE contributor of this society. As a matter of fact the only freebie I get is the same one you get, the Alaska Permanent Fund. I can tell you the Natives are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to giving out freebies. There is a large Russian population where I live and they are the ones that get all the freebies, (your taxpayer dollars) They get money from your government (that should be helping like you and me, not foreigners) they get tax payers dollars to build houses, some of them get disability, a pension just for being here, foodstamps because they have a dozen or so kids. Most of them got betweeen 10-16 offsprings (imagine getting $58,000 from our State, the permanent fund and rebates). You'd have to make over $100,000 a year to get money like that. Don't complain about the Natives getting freebies, because most of us don't get a damn thing for free. Oh, and by the way, can you give me some websites, phone numbers or addresses, to get these so called freebies that all the Natives are getting. I hate the idea that I may be missing out!
Let me get back to the whole purpose of this comment: racial tension is real in Fairbanks. Some of us Natives are treated differntly by some ignorant people. I was sitting at the Chena River Campsite (had a tent site) and the host walked up to me and asked if I was drunk. I said "why do you ask?" He said because you a slobbering all over yourself. I was sitting there drinking a cup of latte. Now why would a guy ask such a question like that of me? Was it simply because I was Native. I told the guy, "you know I rarely drink, maybe I'd have a beer every 3-4 months." In actuality I was pissed and never went back to the place.
You can theorize to death why racism occurs. What is gets down to is there are stupid people in this world with stupid points of views. Why try to understand stupidity. Better to tell the person spitting out this type of BS, straight to their face, you are a jerk. But then again, their will be those who declare you are intolerant of idiots. Stupidity comes in all forms of humans.
You can theorize to death why racism occurs. What is gets down to is there are stupid people in this world with stupid points of views. Why try to understand stupidity. Better to tell the person spitting out this type of BS, straight to their face, you are a jerk. But then again, their will be those who declare you are intolerant of idiots. Stupidity comes in all types of humans.
Thanks to Palin, national press now reading News-Miner looking for angles. Watch for this issue to be a national story, along with many others.
Bah, don't bother responding back to "james"- he is a coward who cannot even defend his ignorant, uneducated, RACIST posts.
So what some of you seem to be saying is natives should just keep quiet when it comes to racism? just hang our heads and give you people their land? (you already have MOST of it, still not happy?)
I, for one, will not just keep quiet, I WILL voice my opinion the SAME as everybody else.
Natives ARE NOT the "only" drunks in town, look in the public safety reports and look how many DUI's, domestic assaults, robberies, and whatever else people that ARE NOT Native get arrested for then try to say Natives are the ONLY criminals in this town, so what if theres a guy passed out in public because he drank to much? better he/she are passed out and not back at home beating on their spouse or driving around or stealing peoples cars.
So there's a reason why this letter was written I think, people (ESPECIALLY racist's) just don't know that much about their environment, they THINK they do, but most of the time they live in a world all of their own creation where they know EVERYTHING and everybody has their "place" in that world, I think EDUCATION is the key for people to get over their illogical and STUPID prejudices.
racism is racism no matter how you try to HIDE it.
You cannot justify racism, in ANY way.
With many native friends in Alaska I've witnessed the bigotry towards them. Back in the 80's and 90's Denny's was a good example. Sitting at a table with native friends, we were ignored on several occasions and when a waitress did show up she was icy towards us while acting oh so jolly with the white customers.
OK......maybe Denny's is not a good example to use as their service has always been wanting and I'd guess the average waitress has not graduated from high school, but, unfortunately, I've witnessed racial predujice in other establishments as well, from other restaurants to department stores and more.
Most of my native friends, by the way, hold jobs and pay their fair share of taxes. Many work on the North Slope doing the jobs that most of you would not do....housekeeping, cooking, manual labor. Others have received college degrees and are teachers, administrators and more. Many also elect to stay in the village and live a subsistence lifestyle, and that too is important for maintaining the Athabaskan culture and to keep the dwindling village population active and viable.
I am new here in News Miner combox-land. I probably began reading the combox posts here about two months ago and noticed that a lot of posters on this site express racist views re: Alaska Natives. At times I have been quite appalled.
Mr. Gilbert is correct that most News Miner articles and editorials with references to "Native" inevitably result in a fair number of bitter, racist comments about Alaska Natives.
Pretending that racism doesn't exist or wishing it away hasn't worked. Perhaps writing an open letter to the Editor is just another invite for those posters to spew their poison but I do appreciate where Mr. Gilbert is coming from.
What is the answer? There is no answer other than that we should all do our best to accept each person as an individual. But that would take an internal, moral inventory and most people aren't up for that.
Nonetheless, I, as an individual, will do my best to not practice prejudice and bias against any person, of any color or creed. And I will be proactive in my responding to others who may express or display racist views and actions. I think that's the best anyone can do.
James, you still out there? Still waiting for at least some phone numbers, where I can get these freebies you are talking about. Like I said earlier, I hate to be missing out on these freebies!!!
we must all learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
James will not respond. He always (no matter WHAT the subject of the article mentioning Native people) goes on at great length about the handouts. I know our household is full of them. We just never get to enjoy them because my wife and I are too busy working and paying mortgage and raising kids. Its all he has to go on, and obviously missed a simple high school level AK history course which would help put things into perspective for him about exactly what deals were made and why. Beyond that, there are no free snow machines, no free cars, etc. etc...
"The Native community needs to assimilate into the mainstream and become working and productive contributors of society instead of consumers."
James, are you saying that I as being Alaskan Native I with my job I hold while attending school I still need to learn to contribute to society?
Please stop stereotyping, and please tell me where to get the freebies!! Im sure natives are the only ones who benefit of of government assistance, I know I dont and I do not intend to. Sure I feel almost the same way when I see my fellow native people who I know are capable live of government assistance, but I do not belittle them, we should encourage them and think of solutions.
You know its the same people on her saying the same things. We all know by now James is anti everything, and wisecheif will rattle nonsense about his people being oppressed, till he is blue in the face.
Lets take a real step forward and just let it go. News Miner stop publishing letters that add "fuel to the fire". There are unbiased people on here who live their lives being proud of their heritage, whatever it may be, that we can learn from. Be a good example of your race, sex, age and people will see that and you will be respected.
Having lived in predominantley Native communities, and being a caucasion person, I have to argue that the racism that is out there is from both sides of the spectrum. Several times I had accusations thrown in my face that I was only doing what I was doing because the person I was dealing with was Native. I was preached to about how racist the White men are towards Natives, yet, I wasn't the one wearing a "Native Pride" baseball cap, or using every profanity in the book to describe a White person. After a while of continous insulting, and racist remarks towards MY race, I found that I was beginning to feel animosity towards a race that judged the "White man" as a whole, especially when it was convienent for them to do so. I am ashamed of that fact, because I have several friends who are Native, and have never used the "Native" card as they put it to make excuses for their behavior, or the "injustices" that happen to them. I recognize, as they do, we are all individuals who make their own choices in life, and as a result, ignorant people of all races and cultures will make their own decisions about the "true" reason behind Native, Black, Asian, Mexican, White person's actions. Its important to remember, no matter what your skin color, or race, or culture, we all have free will...base your judgement on the person's actions. Nothing else.
tinky11-
How about Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center, for starters?
Basically if you people don't like Alaska Natives the solution is easy-
MOVE!!!
Natives were here FIRST, everybody else (including my parents) moved here from somewhere else, I have always acknowledged Alaska Natives as the REAL "inhabitants" of Alaska, everybody else (including ME) are GUESTS (even though I was BORN in Alaska).
They were living here just fine without having their lands taken over by the Russians first, then the Americans "bought" the land from people that didn't even "own" it in the first place, and BOTH cultures (American and Russian), of course, needed HELP from the Natives because THEY did NOT know how to live in the wilderness here.
To the Natives in the old days it was as casual for them to live off the land as it is for people today to live in town.
What do you think thanksgiving is all about? without American Aboriginals the people that celebrated the first one would have STARVED were it not for the KINDNESS of those Natives, Now MOST of the populations and even whole tribes are EXTINCT because of the FLOOD of immigrants that "needed" the land so they didn't have to pay English taxes.
Natives are treated as though they have done NOTHING for "Amerikkkans", they gave you their land, showed you how to eat off it, where to build roads on it, fought and DIED for it along with a few American causes and they don't even have anything CLOSE to a holiday (American Native culture is the only one WITHOUT a national holiday so don't thank Columbus this thanksgiving, thank the Natives that MADE IT HAPPEN in the first place-
"Their ancestors appear in every schoolchild's history book as the peaceful guests of the Pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving.
Yet Mashpee Wampanoag leaders say that their place in history does nothing for them now. Their ancient culture remains threatened and their 31-year-old struggle to gain federal recognition as a tribe continues."-By Ron DePasquale, Special to the Tribune
Published November 24, 2005
That was only three years ago
(they were finally "recognized" by the Federal Government last year, 2007)
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Most of the racist comments come up from editorials like the Hartman case when it's said the trial was unfair because how it was held and they were only guilty because the were native in a white court or the slaughter of the 120 Caribou at point hope and it was said the village should take care of the punishment and whitey should stay out of it(whats going on with that anyways).Comments like these are what spur the arguments and racial slurs by posters on the board,i could care less anyways since i'm here for the entertainment.
P. Kerber: I'm not surprised you saw racism at Denny's directed toward Natives back in the nineties. You may recall that Denny's was successfully sued during that decade for systematic discrimination against African Americans. The company has apparently amended its ways however:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/f...
Racism is an ugly reality, and it continues to haunt our society. Slowly we take steps forward and away from it, but the old attitudes are hard to overcome.
Nobody asked them to "spur the arguments and racial slurs", they did that by THEMSELVES.
There is NO "excuse" for racism.
I completely agree with you even though I've experienced racism from several native communities to the point where I had to leave some villages. I love to hunt, and I love to travel and to experience and see different parts of Alaska. I wish you would have also addressed the other side of this racism issue where "native" bush communities will essentially run you out of town with threats and intimidation because you are "white". this story goes both ways and while reading your letter I shake my head in agreement but alas, it goes both ways.
well actually if you KNEW anything about Native communities you would know that they are DIFFERENT from whatever town YOU were born in, Point Hope (for example) is not "Mayberry" with Andy Griffith waving hello as you stroll into town.
There are some reservations in the lower48 where you have to get a permit to do ANYTHING on THEIR land besides going to the store and driving on the highway, the reason is because people seem to RESPECT things more if they have to pay for it.
OH LOVINS, LOOK WHAT YOU GOSH DARN STARTED MR.GILBERT.
CAN YOU ALL JUST IGNORE THIS?
THEIR hunting grounds are not supposed to be YOUR sport-hunting grounds, they SUBSIST, you don't.
Threats and intimidation these days are better than death in the old days I guess.
NO, I will not just "bury my head in the sand", this B.S. has gone on long enough.
To all the ethnic groups.
To me tribal monies handed out to one ethnic group for their own government is wasteful spending. We are all are under one God and Nation. There shouldn't be special spending for one race. There are needs in bush Alaska where environment is harsh. That is smart and humane spending.
This tribal thing has to be closely watched. That money is trying to be used by tribal councils, abused, and power to discriminate against non-natives. I believe they should do away with the 200 some governments across the State. work with the State and seek strong revenue basis, and put people to work.
We are native,Dad and Mom taught us to work for what we have. We have one permanent white person here in the village that been here for 30 plus years. He said recently he has only two real friends to speak of. And this is a man that contributed to the community time and time again for different causes. This says some native communities are racist too. So be careful when you point fingers at one another.
Corinne: I do utilize the Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center, but I don't get services for free. I use my union health insurance to pay for the services I get at the center. Thank you
tinkky11 - you may use your health insurance, but what that does not pay - IHS does.
It doesn't matter what color we are, we as people are always going to be the way we are. Every individual on this planet is a unique human being with a free will even though we may be categorized into different races and not all in this world have the freedom to express that free will.
We should be united in trying to make this a better place for all instead of taking potshots at each other, focus all your energy on something more positive rather than being negative.
And be glad for what we have as Free Americans!
you know i have lived here worked here and love it here....
but when the focus of the people native and non native is the CI's they see stumbling down 2nd ave and the reality of native on native crime.... REAL!
if i try to do anything i am A NOSE WHITE B....! and need to mind my own!!!
YOU TELL ME WHAT I SHOULD DO!?!?!?!
i am not a hater...
Focus on ALL the crime in Fairbanks instead of pretending that natives are the ONLY people causing problems in the entire city.
I don't remember any of the people shooting at each other in the middle of town being Native, now all of a sudden the "CI's" are the BIGGEST problem downtown? would you rather these natives sobered up and started shooting at each other?
(or would some of you rather not see natives in town at all?, don't be AFRAID to be honest)
Nulatoriverwitch,
As usual you can bury your head in the sand and wish it all go away. Matt, you have brought up a very good point that was hidden. This historic poison (racism) still exist in some case since the 1930s. Fact; There use to be "No Natives Allowed" in the whiteman's businesses here in Fairbanks and Anchorage. No wonder people in the villages are the way they are against the land enchoachments. People need to know what took place here in Alaska before they call wolf. The public must teach this history and heal the wounds in the schools to never practice this poison either in the city or the villages.
I find it odd that a personal problem of a few natives, such as severe alcoholism, is held against natives when conversely, those same personal problems are not held against non-natives. Why is that?
Well, Matt Gilbert’s letter nails it on the head. I see the racism & blatant ignorance about natives every week here in comment section. Is it because of the anonymity of making comments without having to show their face or name that emboldens so many people to spew their hate and perpetuate negative stereotypes without fear of any meaningful repercussions?
Mr. Gilbert suggests that school teachers be the frontline in combating racism while others think that it is the parent’s responsibility. The sad truth is that racism is learned in the home. Kids learn from their parents of what is & is not considered to be socially acceptable. So, if the parents think negatively of all natives because of a few “chronic inebriates” and their ignorance of the Federal government’s fiduciary responsibility towards the Tribes & members of those Tribes, then the child will learn to think the same.
All people of good conscience, not just school teachers, must take a stand against these few racist fools and spread the truth so that others don’t believe the lies. That is the only way racism and discrimination will end. It will not end overnight. It will take a few more generations, but we must follow the lead of people like Mr. Gilbert and stake that stand, and the sooner the better.
Wisechief-While I agree wholeheartly that the discrimination that occured in Alaska was as bad as any and was an abomination, it is still no excuse for natives to do the same. If I am discriminated against does that give me the right to discriminate against someone else? In a word no. The racists know that if they can keep us divided they will always win, kind of like the politicians. If we are to survive and prosper in the world today we must rise above those that spread hatred and discontent. This behavior is amplified by the current me first mentality prevelent in the world today. If we all share what we have with others and learn to live together regardless of where we came from then eventually the haters will just fade away into history.
The creative folks who came up with "Avenue Q" said it best: Everyone's a little bit racist (google "Avenue Q" if you're not familiar with it). The song makes a point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CSnlb-y...
Lost, 10:38am-
I grew up, (well, I was a kid. I really grew-up here I could say), in Falmouth, the neighboring town to Mashpee.
My mom was best friends with the old chief, Chief Mills. My big brother and sister were good friends with the chief's kids. I think Shelly was Chief for a while, if not still.
As a kid, our family (and others) went to their pow-wows, and played and danced.
Chief's portrait was in our home, and still is in my mom's.
My big sister and some others are still friends.
I was on the Cape Cod Standard Times website this morning. There is some kind of a casino deal going on with the Mashpee Wampanoags.
They're doing fine, as they were when I was a kid.
They didn't have a bad attitude then. Don't know if they do now. Don't let one speak for the opinions of all (something certain folks do on this issue here).
Lost, 11:35am, re permits-
In 1991, during the mushroom boom in Tok and Tetlin areas, the Tetlin Indians charged for permission for people to pick mushrooms on their land. They made lots of money. I know; I was there. My ex was a lower 48 Indian, so they let him do what he wanted for free.
I have been to some reservations in the lower 48. Even with an Indian, they were not friendly places to be for a white person.
I have been to some villages in Alaska. Some were friendlier than others.
They were doing "fine" for not being recognized as a group of people by the government, sure.
There is a REASON why they sought federal recognition, and it is NOT just some formal title like "citizenship", it is an acknowledgment of their ancient SOVEREIGNTY as a tribe and their rights as a First Nations People.
If any of you are wondering why natives seem to control much of Alaska check out this link-
(note the sheer density of Native people in Alaska compared to the rest of the U.S.)
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/mapGallery...
I dont know why matthew "virgil" gilbert is complaining...i mean he is from arctic village,ak... every year during the summer months his grandparents take care of the tourist that come from all over the world..and he is never racist to them..maybe because they are payin his family a fortune..just to stay there a few days..and when he runs out of money all he have to do is make a phone call to his grandpa...no matter where we are, no matter where we go, no matter where we live...racism and discrimination will always be part of our lives...
soooo, we should just ignore it and pretend it doesn't happen then?
Considering race can be defined as a group of people who share similar ideas, I guess Fairbanks has a new race of people. People who pump themselves up by writing bigoted statements about another group of people in the comment section of the News Miner. Hope they don't inbreed. Maybe they just live in cyberspace.
im not only talking about natives in general..i mean all races throughout this world..
LostAlaskan99712/nativegaygirl
We are all brothers and sisters on this planet but somehow it seems to be human nature to have these attitudes. I lived and worked in many villages and had native people that liked me and some that didn't and there were some native people that I liked and some that I didn't like. GET IT. It's the same with every grouping of any peoples. WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS. I hope we can all improve and do better in the future and I am sure if there were no minerals/oil here that the population would be lower. tommydski5491@gmail.com I welcome any further comments.
What is considered "human" is relative especially given different points of view on how we got here in the first place- Is it instinctual to hate a person because of their culture? (did we EVOLVE this way?)
or is bigotry something we have to "learn"?
Lost,
They were doing fine as in they were happy, not bitter, and as well off as many others.
The reason the "fights" started was because they wanted special rights--privileges not afforded to non-Indians--for exclusive ability to ownership and development of casinos to make big bucks.
One of these days, as I clean out my piles of paper, I'll provide for you the details of the corruption practiced by Indians against Indians in greedy racketeering etc. enabled by those special privilege casino deals.
Many Indians around here say alot of that (Indians unduly benefitting at the expense of the 'common' people of their tribes) is going on with Doyon.
Bigotry and racism are learned responses. My parents taught me to value all cultures and that learning all I could from them would enrich my life. The problem is the narrow minded people that have been programed from birth that only there heritage is good and everything else is bad. Unfortunatly those parents are still out there brainwashing their children. We all need to stand together as one people against those that want to disparage others based on cultural differences.
HEY DUMBCHIEF,
YOUR NOT SO WISE BY CALLING PEOPLE NAMES.
Hello all,
I never respond to comments, in the past, I felt I was above the petty debates, but I don't feel that way anymore. I don't think like that anymore. I feel you all deserve an apology. I apologize for such a strongly worded letter. I believe the only answer is love, kindness, and show of human brotherhood no matter how negative someone is towards you. I also believe icerider is right. Racism starts at home. If you don't want this to continue for the next couple hundred years, than please, please please don't teach your children to stereotype natives. Please don't! Anyways, again I want to say "sorry to you all" and though I can't respond to everyone I responded to a couple of comments below:
LostAlaskan99712: you sound really cool, but we have to show love and kindness in the face of any obstacle. We have to be examples and try to teach our friends and family the spirit of human brotherhood/sisterhood too.
cry girl: what you can do? Tell your local schools to start teaching the post-colonial effects on a human being and Alaska Native history so the kids will understand "why" they see drunk natives. Also, tell your priest or worshop head of whatever religion you belong to, to allow natives to speak out about this. Or I can speak to it. Racism starts at home. Start teaching your kids that anger and bitterness towards your fellow human beings is never a good thing and always express the power of love and human brotherhood. Also you can contribute to the Ralph Perdue Center they focus on solving the CI problem.
nulatoriverwolf: you're right. it is embarrassing and I apologize to you. I won't write another one again, but at the same time, you're family and your extended network are suffering the symptoms of post-colonialism: family-breakdown, crime, alcoholism, drugs, and hatred. We need to eradicate this stuff.
n8vprd: who are you? what are you talking about? my grandparents don't run any kind of business? When someone needs place to stay they offer their cabins and charge a minimum fee because there's no jobs in our village and it's a source of income. I have no idea what you're talking about. I say "hi" and smile but I don't talk to them I just walk right pass and back to my cabin whenever someone comes thru. I never ever ask my grandpa for money, maybe once or twice when I was in a dire situation-who doesn't? Even if I do, which I don't, my grandpa is a strict person who doesn't give money to his grandkids. You don't know anything about me. everytime a native speaks out there's always another native to put him/her down.
corinne-
Why don't you actually look into tribes that have casino's, some do make money enough to distribute to their tribal members, some do NOT.
Either way do you think the Feds would allow casinos to operate without STRICT regulations? there is an entity called the Federal Gaming Comission and they have a BIG presence in EVERY casino in the country.
Just because they're allowed to have casino's doesn't mean they don't have to WORK to make money.
So I ask again- Why do you think they petitioned for 31 years to gain Federal recognition?, for the "fun" of it?
Vegas has more gaming operations than anywhere else in the country combined, I don't see you people picking on the corporations that actually DO make BILLIONS, without distributing any of their profits to anybody else but themselves.
What you spend in Vegas STAYS in Vegas, at least Indian Gaming donates LARGE amounts of their profits to their local communities, my tribe alone donates over a quarter million every year to the local schools, police/fire depts. and wherever else they can to better their community, so whats so wrong with that?
Wow, 80 replies and in just one day of being published. This most certainly is a subject that touches some nerves. My family and I are all native, 24/7. Racism will always exist; should you ever let it hold you back, heck no. That just feeds it, like a festering wound. Go on with your life, the best you can, I say. I always tell my kids,"you can be anything you want to be, work very hard though, because there is a small portion of our society that will try and hold you back, due to their ignorance and fear..." Bless you all, please remember that we are all of the human race first and foremost.
. Kerber: I'm not surprised you saw racism at Denny's directed toward Natives back in the nineties. You may recall that Denny's was successfully sued during that decade for systematic discrimination against African Americans. The company has apparently amended its ways however:
PK, the clown has only been occuring since Governor Palin was added to the VP tickect
I don't think Denny's is a good example to use. Everyone is treated like crap there. Their poor service is the great equalizer.
We are one human family. Period. Racism comes from an attitude that the world is divided between "us" and "them" - and there's been plenty of that even in this little list of responses. There is only "us," something that can easily be shown by the universality of our emotional responses, the way we all smile when we're happy and cry when we're hurt, the way we love, the way we all learn language, the way we bleed. Like all attitudes, racism is also universal, since there are always people who feel that they're better or different than others, for whatever reason, and like all attitudes, it can be changed, one person at a time.
Matthew.....after reading your letter, all the responses and finally your response, I must chime in again. You have every right to be angry about the racial prejudice so apparent in Fairbanks. I'd be sick and tired of racial prejudice too if I were a member of a minority group. Unfortunately, hatred and bigotry are commom almost everywhere. In places like New Orleans it is directed against the blacks. In Southern California, the latinos. Middle Easterners are a favorite target, although their object of hatred is their religion. In Fairbanks, Alaska, it is mostly the Athabaskans, since that is the predominant minority group.
Will we ever wipe out prejudice? Maybe in a hundred years or two, but I doubt it will ever be totally eradicated. I think we as Americans are making progress but it is just happening far too slowly. My parents belonged to a racist generation and I remember very few in their age group (now 80ish) who were not so. Unfortunately, it is passed along to offspring, whether intentionally or not. Some of those offspring learn how to think for themselves and unlearn such awful habits. I am one of them.
After reading your response above, Matthew, I am concerned. You mention to Nulatoriverwold that "I won't write another one again." I hope you don't mean you will not write another letter to the editor. You should continue writing, both letters and community perspectives. You've written some excellent pieces in the past, for the News-Miner and others. Keep it up!
Also, don't let someone like n8v0prd get to you. Sounds like a case of jealousy on his or her part, not to mention being so far off the mark anyway!
You've done a lot in your ten years as an adult and have much promise. Keep doing what you've been doing and more.....I see a promising future ahead of you!
By the way....I walked the halls of congress in Washington D.C. with you in 2002 when we and many other good Alaskans convinced key Republican senators to vote against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.......52-48, I think the final vote was. You were instrumental in that effort and should be proud of yourself!
I dont think this letter is embarrassing at all. Some dont like the way they are talked about and just let it happen. I was in middle school when I started defending myself.
I had some racist teachers at Lathrop High School and I switched from Lathrop to another school.
Lathrop is on the top 50 list of "highest number of drop-outs" in the whole United States! At least I know it made that list when I was a student there.
Pretty crazy considering the fact that there are so many big cities in our country that you wouldn't think that Lathrop, located in our fine town of Fairbanks, would make the list.
Lathrop and West Valley may need much improvement, but it really is up to the parents. Once a person is molded a certain way, it's hard to change their ways. I grew up without racism in my home and my cousins grew up being taught to be racist.
I'm still not racist or prejudice, and my cousins still are, we dont really get along to this day.....
its sad.
All I can say is that my kids are simply not going to be taught that way. I think my fellow Alaska Natives should just start believing in themselves and dont worry about what other people think about Natives.... just worry about how you view the world.
I love Fairbanks (and all of Alaska) and I just hope that people my age that are also parents teach their children about acceptance. We only live one time on this beautiful earth and the only thing that matters is making the most out of it.
I just came from hunting the Minto Flats. The Whites we saw would wave as we past them, the Indians would scowl. Whats up with that?
We all know the REAL way things are. You can dispute the truth as much as you will, but it is still the truth. Most people can see, feel, smell and hear what goes on around them, but the wonderful, everything is beautiful, Kumbiya singing politically correct crowd distort everything to make it fit their pie-in-the-sky ideal.
Can't you just see them now? Looking upward with tears on their shiny cheeks, saddened by the imperfectness of their fellow creatures, wishing just to transform them to the true path. They keep working at it and hoping that some day we will all be 'fellow travelers'.
The "We were here first" attitude is part of the problem. Looking at the broad scope of things we were all "first" somewhere and it really doesn't and shouldn't matter.
First, one doesn't need to use profanity to get their point across or to show that they are unhappy with a situation. It simply shows lack of control and emotional upheaval which is not conducive to calm and rational discussion. It takes calm and rational discussion to come to any sort of progress no matter the case.
Second, people are people no matter who they are, where they are from, or who their ancestors are. Perceptions of abuse run rampant in all cultures. Just look at how many people walk around pitying themselves, when hundreds or thousands more with the exact same background lead happy and fulfilling lives simply by ignoring stupidity and living life to the fullest that they can on their own.
Obviously, the secret to such a difference is in how a person acts, not REACTS to a situation. Decide in advance how to handle something rationally, in a way to make the perceived attacker the obvious scoundrel.
My Cherokee Grandfather would have put it this way, "Ignore the stupidity of man and follow the wise mans way." My native mix Grandma would say, "Let the other man show his weakness, and do not fall into his trap. Stay strong, and live right." Both are excellent council for all men, not just those of a certain race.
I could claim to be native. I have that from both my parents. One thing I figured out a long time ago, thanks to my native ancestors, especially those who served our nation in wartime, is that I am an AMERICAN. So much has been put into special group this and special interest that--people have forgotten that first and foremost we are AMERICANS and should be proud of that fact. In case anyone has forgotten, we AMERICANS are innovators and find solutions to problems. We don't cling to them, we solve them by working together. Until those who have forgotten that can remember, they will remain angry for perceived slights and get absolutely nowhere in correcting those perceived slights.
My mother's parents were burned out of their home, and in the end my beloved grandfather died because of the lack of medical care for 'his kind'. Guess what, Grandma said it best when asked how to handle such atrocities, "Get over it, and move on. Time will take care of those who wronged you." She died before that came true for our family. Almost sixty years after the "great burnout" and 40 years after my grandfather died, it was determined that the land and all its holdings did belong to our family, and that those who committed the crimes owed the money stolen and more. Our family's response? As a group, those survivors decided to let it go, and instead held a peace meeting with the decendants of those who committed the crime. Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to have that prime real estate and money, but our integrity having held its head high for all this time is STILL the most important thing we could ever have. The experience made us stronger, and that made us better for it.
The short of it all, STOP WHINING and get on with your life. Show yourself and your children that you are more than anyone else. There is too much to be proud of and happy about to wallow in misery. When one does that, like the Romans said,"You prick your own skin with the thorn."
my mom taught me that judging people before you meet them is racist. Who is the racist here Matt?
The natives have always seemed harmless to me. The ones I worry about are the "BLOODS"-andthe"CRIPS" THOSE are the dangerous minority most don`t care if they go to jail or not.They get as violent as they want. "THEY" don`t think about reprcussion of their acts. they just want to be badasses.And it`s not one guy against another,it`s a gang against one guy.(chicken@#%&*)
Come on ,
the Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center is a joke, long waiting lines, and mediocre care. Thank goodness I have health insurance, even if I didnt I would not go there unless my life depended on it. Jealousy is not the answer here.
joebtfsplk said- "That's an interesting map on the census website, but it has nothing to do with the density of Native people in Alaska compared to the rest of the U.S."
In reference to this link-
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/mapGallery...
If you can't see that MOST of Alaska is 60% or MORE Alaska Natives AND "American Indians" then you are either blind or you just don't like what you see, just because somebody CAN conquer another doesn't make it right.
With this logic- (joebtfsplk's)
"That is the way of mankind. There is nothing you can do about it",
Does that mean I have permission to TAKE your property from YOU? As long as I have more people and more guns that makes it okay then right? after all YOU said "that IS the WAY of mankind".
Let me know because I could always use some extra land to grow crops for my family, especially for FREE, only since joebtfsplk said it's an acceptable way for mankind to behave, or at least when it comes to STEALING land from Native people RIGHT?.
Nope, akgg.
Equality is.
WOW!
rain again-
Do you know of a time when there were signs outside of businesses that said "no Caucasians allowed"?
Quit your WHINING and get an EDUCATION.
btw- unless your from the Russian Caucasus mountains you're not "Caucasian", that is as wrong a term as "Indians" are for Native Americans.
(we are not from INDIA, Columbus didn't know where he was and made an assumption).
One of my grandfathers was Athabaskan, he taught me about the natural world in ways that Anglos fear to comprehend.
How do you walk 100miles in the bush at -40f ?
How do you communicate to friends with the help of messenger wolves?
How do you live in the city while staying invisible?
...now it's my turn to teach these many skills to young Athabaskans, and others who share the natural world.
thank you Matt Gilbert
Okay normally I'd step back and leave this alone however I feel a history leason is needed.Alaskan natives were not killed for their land they sold it and the rights to it.Ergo we now own this land.
now the tribes of the lower 48 were killed for their lands.Some where wiped out compleatly.We recive no money for the land that was taken or the deaths of tibes.We are stilled viewed as better off dead then alive.
Now stop bunching those who sold out with those who died trying to keep the land.It drives me nuts to hear you complain about being hated.You got better treatment then all the other tribes in the nation.So get off your high horse errr moose.
We paid in blood and death and recived nothing back at all.Those little bits of land are not worth a thing.You sold your land get over it you still get money from the sell and get PFDs.Enough is enough fix your tribes get them the treatment they need or keepum in the villages.
Case and point was a drunk native who jumped on my car at a stop sign.My car was stopped and started screaming i had hit him with my car.Lucky for me a cop saw him jump on my car and he was hauled off for public intoxacation.As well as being a public danger.And it happens all the time.It happened to my folks , its happened to my hubby.
whining will get you no where,And you really need to growup and complain to those who sold your land.Most of you may be good people but the bad examples are every where and that is whats going to leave a mark in every ones mind.Get off the firewater and fix your selves only you can prove your better then what is shown.
until then deal with it you all complain and whine about it and it just opens the door further for every one else to dislike you as a whole.The few good alaskan natives I have meet don't claim the CI's and wished theyed drop off the face of the earth.But for every good one I've meet 8 to 10 bad ones.Not a good ratio at all.
I'll never for get the alaskan native who jumped ship on her kids and mother left them nothing to pay rent and they left food sitting out and in the fridge by the time the land lord new they had left i'd made several complaint about the smell coming through the walls.
If thats not a bad person i dont know what one is.
Silverwindrune~~~"Get off the firewater"??? "Every "good one"...8 to 10 "bad ones"?? Get real. Citing your examples of "bad ones", is just ignorant. And so are you.
silverwindrune-I am sorry your life has given you such a jaded veiw of the Native Alaskans and perhaps your experiences have been bad. But to label a entire culture based on your narrow band of experience is horible. I have met, worked and socialized with many Native Alaskans and have always found them to be friendly, outgoing and caring. I addition they hard working, industrious and contribute greatly to any community they are a part of. Yes I have seen some drunks downtown, of all races. What makes you think they were Native Alaskans, their looks. Many races look similar and unless you are a forensic patholigist I trully doubt your ability to pick out an Alaskan Native from an American Native. Perhaps you notice them more or turn a somewhat blinded eye toward the rest. You really should take your own advice and get past your personal hostility toward other people and learn to live and let live.
All I'm saying is they need to focaus in their own comunity before they start whining they sold there lands and the rights to it my people were slaughtered for their land.Now the group who has every right to raise a stink isn't.and yes I can tell the diffrences the moon face gives it away.I'm sick and tired of the complaints of unfair treatment or misuse of land that they sold.
housemouse at least they were paid for the land you live on.What about the tribes of the lower 48 do you think they will ever see a dime.
I have every rason to dislike natives with the fact that they sold out they didnt pay a death price for what little land they kept.And you want me to sit hear and listen to them whine.Please keep in mind that they sold the land the get paid every six mounths pluse a pfd.
So the are well paid for what they have and get.So this complaining about unfair treatment and rasism is their own doing.Look after their own people.and stop whining to the rest of us.they are not noble they have no right to whine about anything.
The noble tribes all died and bleed for tiny bits of land don't count them in with the sell outs.Look up the trail of Tears and read up on it.better yet find out what life is really like in a real res.And if you don't like the fact that I hold this againest them don't read what i have to say.
I have the right of free speach i wanted to point out that they got the better deal form the white man.They were offered money for the land and took it.so they can stop complaining.Me i'll teach my kids the truth the sold the land we live on.
While granddads tribe was hunted,given infected blankets to kill the woman and children,and recived nothing even now from those who hurt them.And we won't ever see anything.But heres the poor sell outs whine because a few give the whole a bad rep.Oh, lets feel sorry for these poor little victems.
it all start's with you
when black's stop calling each other
the n- word
and natives stop saying poor me
silverwindrune-your bitterness and hatred runs deep and if you dont get past it it will consume you. Was it not the beliefs of most Native American tribes that the land belonged to all men? Did the tribes not war amongst themselves over percieved indifferences. Yes there were horrible atrocities perpetrated on your ancestors as on mine. Who is alive today to take blame for them? Who do we imprison? Who do we get reperations from? We must learn from the past, so that we don't repeat it, but believing others had it better is both nieve and simplistic. You are condeming a culture much they way your ancestors culture was condemed. Is it your contention that every Native Alaskan sold their land? While I agree that what was done to Native Americans was a horrible injustice, they were not without blame themselves. Two wrongs never made a right. The moon shape is in no way a determining factor. Persons of mongolian and some far eastern countries posses the same traits, in addition the Native Americans trace their ancestry back to the Native Alaskans who can trace their ancestry back to the far east during the westard movement over the Bering Staits. You are accusing Native Alaskans of whining, when your accusations are merely whining in a different vein. In the end we are all one people, some better, some worse, please try to treat all people with humanity and compassion.
haha life happens
melindas indeed.
icerider-good job, however, I think you're wasting your breath. Good effort though.
Melindas-not cool.
melindas made a good point.A very good point.It stops when those feeling the bite fix the problums.bad PR is bad PR.the dozens of drunks are bad PR for the whole.Those who don;t live like that need to step up and set an example.Demaned something be done maybe mandatory rehab for the CI's so the rest of picture can be seen.Since my earlest memorys of life in alaska the CI's stand as a big part of them.
It might be an illness but you do nothing to help them.Whine because of racism.And enable them to contune to make ya'll look real bad.Simple fix.
Step up or shut up.
silverwindrune-Instead of standing on the sidewalk pointing at the drunks, shaking your head and condeming Alaskan Natives, why don't YOU step up and help not only a fellow American but a fellow Human Being. If you see someone in trouble and do nothing to help, you are part of the problem. Perhaps people should point at you, shake their head and say how sad, devoid of human kindness. Be part of the solution.
you would not like my salotion to the problum.Its really easy throw them in rehab and leave them there to rot.or ship them back to the villages.
no explain to me why I should step forward and help?I don't care one way or the other how outsiders see them.Could care less if they live or die.I hold no ties to them.Any more then I'll give hard earned money to a church.What is it with this belife that one must help some one else?
The christian god say those who help themselves.Does that mean you can steal.No it means you must help your self or your own group if you fell misused and abused you must do something about it.
Icerider your are an enabler of this behavior shame on you.It's not up to me to help some one who's own people won't help them.If they dont like the view points of others then they need to do something about it.
Personally i could careless what happens to those who fall for this kind of victem.all you are doing is telling them its okay to sit back and whine and you'll fix it for them.Enough you can't fix it for them they must fix it or live with it.
they don't have to live in the city's and towns where there maybe a bad view on them.They don't have to listen or even respond.all they are doing is proving why most see them in a bad light.
and people like you are the ones who keep this circle going you acused me of being racist when i was pointing out the facts.Now who is judge just because you don't like the facts.
Why don't you put you neck out on the line all I wanted was for people to know the truth.What you see is what guides the views on any race.After spending time in the south and the attude of the afracan amarcans there I can honestly say we have a whole diffrent group that is in no way related to the lazy you owe mers of the south.
I pointed out that the only thing alot of people see is the bad.And you claim again this is done in hate.It's not.He was asking why in some why and I answered you show the bad exaples enough and the whole looks bad too.The KKK give white people a bad name but I don't hear any one claiming white on the whole are bad for the group.Why because there are more whites maybe.Or maybe because white step up and put out.
I don't care what color you are What sex you fall in love with.On the whole I look for the good in people then I run into some one like you and I feel sick.You have no idea how this world works and you think that teaching tolrence Will help anything.No its called reverse racism look it up.I feel no guilt for those who will not help themselves.This hand's out attude is what will distory us in the end.
Freedom won't die with a bang but a whimper amonest you.
Corinne... I know you want to learn, and I know you have it in you to learn.... and I thought I had given you information about the Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center that was understandable.
I should understand that you may have chosen to block out the facts when we first debated "entitlement". Especially when it concerned CAIHC. I told you before, that those who have insurance, pay for the services at the hospital through their insurance.
I'll bet you were right there yelling when they were talking about shutting CAIHC down in 2006.Or maybe if you live in town we can take the sudsidized hunting and fishing away after all we are not gareenteed a big game animal.Or even that we will be able to catch a fish.
It's not like you don't get benafits the rest of us can not touch.We get to hunt during the season.On moose we can only take bulls.And for those who have no bows we only have till the 15th of septimber to hunt for them..Why not make any low income family can sudsidize there food with fish and big game meat.Can take females and males.
The benifits are meny and while every one else this winter is budgeting food along with gas for cars and heat.You'll get to go out a hunt for meat taking a big part of the food bill out with that on thing.
It's not racist to point out facts but it swiftly gets turned that way.Fact you sold your land and the rights to it.Fact you get a bonus of a check every 6 months and the pfds.Fact you whine alot but do nothing to put a positive out look on your people.Fact what you see is what you get.Fact is the truth hurts.And as painful as that may seems there are many who would be happy to take the check for you ever six months and your pfds.Would love the first of the fish and geting to hunt when they need it.
But we can't and won't do that.If the south is reversing the hatered by demanding white pay there way.Then you are just as guilty when you complain about a mine that will give year round jobs.Or peditor control from planes being wrong.When you go out hunting you use a four wheeler or a snowmachine is that fair the the animal you are hunting?My dad hunts on foot if he gets one it means a long walk to and from he sees fourwheeler and snowmachine as the lazy mans way.Mind you if you 60+ and that kind of walking is likly to kill you go ahead and use the machines.But if your not go for the walk it will do you some good.Thats fair chase and even more it's the old ways.Tracking your kill down and then hualing it out how meny of you do that now adays?
silverwindrune-
Learn how to spell, I can't even see how somebody could stand to read your posts.
(from what I can make out) it just seems as though you're complaining that People speak out against prejudice?
btw- Roughly 80% of the Aleut population was DESTROYED by first contact with the Russians, either through disease or murder so it's not like lower48 Natives are the "only ones to suffer", the meager handouts Natives(Alaskan/American) get back from the government now are NOTHING compared to the value of the land and way of life that was lost.
Plus I don't all these Alaskan natives running around with brand new cars and half-million dollar houses so it's not like they got rich from all these "land deals" everybody keeps talking about, Alaska Natives have had to FIGHT for the rights they have today, as does every Native group in this country because it's not like the government just gives us all money at the asking.
I think the government allowed them their system of government because "corporations" are not "sovereign nations" like lower48 native reservations are, i.e.- they(Alaska Natives) don't have the "right' to build casino's in Alaska, like "American Indian Tribes" do...
.....but I guess "corporations" are better than nothing right?, they COULD have gotten that too.
point in case.I point out Facts and get called racist or prejudice.See you just made my point for my thank you.
As for the russians killing off half of the native alaskan's your point would be?You have a corparation set up that pays you every six months and its not from the goverment.You get to hunt and fish when ever with out paying for the lience.
Any one who points out the facts is hit hard with the your perjudice or racist.Get over your selves here.Facts are that facts you don't like how history painted you contact pbs and put your side out there.
Kinda like a few other facts that we don't point out.Like slaves in the usa were the losers of a war sold by there own people.But heaven forbid you point out the over looked fact.How about the fact that Adoph Hitler was blessed by the pope.
It's the facts you don't want to see that make a really big picture.Anyone who point out those truths gets flamed.Flame away but remember Truth hurts.
I don't owe you are any one else im first gen amarican.And proud of it.but that does not mean I'll turn a blind eye to this.I have stayed quite for a while now it's nice to see positive things about the natives but it few and far between.So I will speak what I see as the truth and that is my right.Weather you like it or not.Maybe you don't like it when no one whats to play along with the pity us party.
As for the FIGHT the act like it.Keep your own people on the right path and stop throwing racism or preudice out when some speaks out.Lead by example.Heres the example of what not to do unless you want alaska to turn into SC you better get a grip and fast.or you all will be playing the you owe me card.
"As for the russians killing off half of the native alaskan's your point would be?"
Silver, you have to be kidding right??? do you realize how far gone your problem solving skills are when you don't even see the significance of this .. "FACT?"
silverwindrune-I will attempt to address the parts of your posts that were coherant and I will try to keep it brief. While I am sure you are a go getter and have lifted yourself up to where you want to be in life or are on your way there, I am also sure that at some point in your life you have been helped by others. Just as you were helped, so should you help others. I firmly believe and experience has shown me that life is like a wheel and your disdain for others will come back to haunt you. I am far from an enabler, as an enabler allows people maintain their current condition and does nothing about it. When I said step up, I meant I wanted you to help these people break the cycle of self destruction, much as I was trying to help you. When and where did I say you were a racist, those are your words, I told you you were wrong about Alaskan Natives as a whole. Well that's about all I could understand from your last two posts.
P.S. If I saw you in trouble, I would help you regardless of how you feel about humanity.
Matt, the trouble is that racial issues will not heal as long as people like you keep picking the "scabs" off.
I am from a lower48 tribe, I was just born in Alaska.
I get to hunt, fish, trap and "harvest" where my tribe is just like the Alaska natives do (out of "season" KINDA, and for free).
I get a share of the profits from my tribes casino, every six months too(but I still work and pay bills).
I speak out for Native rights ALL THE TIME (read my posts), there IS a great deal of racist scum in this town that I constantly speak out against and have seen with my own eyes as well as heard with my own ears-
(I don't always look Native to everybody and people have said some pretty bad things in front of me, in a business atmosphere ; ) it's a bad idea to be so blatantly racist in front of people you don't even know, lol!)
So I've also been to the states allot and on different rez's and know damn well how SOME natives treat others, yeah you say "we are all brothers" but I'd like to see you say that to some "brothers" I have met that would NOT have agreed with you, and they WOULD have let you know it.
That is just the way some Natives are, even up here, it has ALWAYS been that way but it still does NOT excuse racism.
It's true- If every Native tribe in America had been united there would be no "American Government", Europeans were able to take our land because we were not "united", like "we" TRY to be today.
Nutty- CAIHC takes private insurance, medicare, medicaid, and any other insurance BEFORE they use their own monies from IHS. On top of that the patient may have to pay an additional fee for services. So, yes, all health providers in this state as well as lower 48 that are affiliated with IHS use the 'free' monies to make up the difference. To say or imply they don't is not providing the correct information.
If you go to the hospital for an emergency, you have to pay out of your own pocket also even if you are native.
Let try this again.I'll try to keep my feelings out of it and focus on the plain truth.
Drive the down town area at any season and what do you see.CI's and alot of them.Now this looks bad on our city.And the out of towners really don't want to see it.K?
Now ask any one what race they see the most in the down town area?Still with me?I hope so.Now find more the ten articles on postive thing to do with natives in fairbanks?
Now lets look at reverse racism.Now that is a native calling a white person whitey,pale face,white demon.Now track down any one whose been bunched in with those words or been called one.
Still with me.Now go and ask some on how they feel about be called whitey?And the answer is?
My point out the facts was simple put a mistake you don't care about the facts you want racism to stop it works both ways.
You can't tell me that whitey is not rude or bad if you dont want me saying something that you find rude.
You can't cry wolf if your doing it too.Two wrongs don't make a right but nothing is ever in black and white.It a rainbow of color and you have to watch what you say to.
I can't help those CI's Because i look white.If i try to help I'm being nosy and pushy.And get call whitey I really hate that word.My kids can look forward to the same thing.They hold the blood but the only good it did them is they can tan.
It does no good to cry racism if you are just as guilty as every one else.Now we all try not to say thing we don't mean.But it happens. The diffrence between racism and blowing steam is one means it and the other doesn't.
Those who have called my Whitey meant for it to hurt.And I put up with it in school.As an adult I would think you and every one else above this.Thats not always the case.
I have been asked what native I stole my job from when I worked for K-mart,Wendy's,toco bell.I have had it rubbed in my face meany times and shrug it off.
But when some one turns the table you throw a fit.Wheres the polite pr for not calling any one who looks white whitey?Where are you teaching your kids not to assume that pale means white.
I stand up for you if you stand up for me.It does not work one way.you can't yell about racism and then commite your self.
Nutty-
First, speaking condescendingly doesn't help anything.
Next, you partially explained your view; my pointing out "the rest of the story" does not suggest I'm "blocking out" anything. In fact, it suggests that you are.
neither does it negate the fact that, lacking other insurance, indigenous people get free health care.
Because I am white, I have no access to that health care. It is a racist entitlement. And as long as programs such as that exist, they will create racism where it wouldn't otherwise exist.
CAIHC is by no means the only example of race-based programs that whites--or sometimes only white men, re contracting preferences--cannot participate in...solely because of race.
That is the epitome of racism.
Further, my ex had been to the hospital several times--surgery even--and the IHS fully paid for it.
And before the "you're jealous" crowd starts--give it up.
I am for everybody being treated equally. Only then will this racist crap end.
As long as there are people who believe they deserve special privileges based on race that are not available to others because of race...
racism will never go away.
Aksunshine:
"tinkky11 - you may use your health insurance, but what that does not pay - IHS does."
You are wrong.
Wisechief:
your grammar and spelling is embarrassing!
When the gold rush spread from the Klondike to what is now the state of Alaska, invading miners came into the land, took what they wanted, and paid nothing to any tribe. Alaska natives were not even allowed to file on gold claims. White men raped the Athabascan wife of a gold miner and the court ruled that no crime had been committed because she was an Indian. TB, influenza, measles, and other diseases brought into the villages by miners, fur traders, and soldiers decimated the Alaska Native population. The Indian Health Service hospitals were built in Alaska largely in response to the ravages of TB and this continued well into the 1950's. Nobody paid any Alaska Native for the land taken until the federal government wanted to quiet the title to land so that they could build a pipeline across it. Then came the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act. Even that Act was done without consultation with the people who actually lived on the land and used it. There have been federally recognized tribal governmennts in most Alaska villages since the turn of the century but ANCSA didn't negotiate with those governments; probably because they knew that villages would not sell their land. Programs provided by BIA and IHS for the benefit of tribes and their members are not based on race; they are based on the government-to-government relationship between legally recognized tribes and the federal government. They are in place because Congress and the courts recognized that the federal government had treaty and trust resonsibilities to tribes and their members...largely based on the "taking" of the best and most productive of Indian tradtional lands, both in Alaska and in the Lower 48, which impoverished those tribes and made it impossible for the tribes and their membership to be economically independent. Read your history; educate yourself before you post a lot of inaccurate and prejudiced nonsense.
corinne-
So you think natives shouldn't have rights because it makes some people jealous enough to be racist?
This perpetual MYTH that every Native in the country is on some kind of "free ride" from Uncle Sam is getting pretty ridiculous because that is EXACTLY what is "creating racism where it doesn't exist", not Native people standing up for themselves when people think it is TRIVIAL to have your entire culture insulted by people who don't even know all these "CI'S" they are soooooo unfortunate to have their innocent little lives exposed too.
Cmon, is it really better to have people shooting at each other in broad daylight? or what about the "CI'S" that are DRIVING DRUNK EVERY DAY? hmmmm??? we read about them (at least the ones that got CAUGHT, the rest of you know who you are) in the paper almost every day
Your ancestors already took our/their land, that wasn't enough for YOU?
*hint- maybe if Natives had been treated FAIRLY to begin with, they wouldn't have these rights you're so JEALOUS about.
silverwindrune, your posts are impossible to get through. I think YOU are the one hitting the "firewater", a little early! But you just sit there in your little world of denial!
Lost-
I have never mentioned anywhere the drunks downtown or elsewhere. Don't attribute any of that crap to me.
Nor have I ever said "Natives" shouldn't have rights. (Native being a term for ease of use, because I am a native American, having been born here, and all my kids are native Alaskans having been born here...)
Nor have I ever said that "every Native in the country is on some kind of 'free ride,' so don't include that in your rants against me either.
I have taken no land from anyone unfairly, nor has anyone I know. I will grant you that the Feds do, and other government entities also. In fact, I'm not going there. It makes me really upset.
I am not responsible for what people before me may have done...especially those so far removed from me I have no idea who they are.
None of us were alive then.
I answer no ethnic/race questions on government, or any, forms because I think it shouldn't matter. I argue with'em about that if I have to.
My kids are 1/4 Indian, but I don't include them in any special programs directed exclusively for "native Alaskan/americans" because it's wrong. In fact, I made the mistake when my oldest (24 yrs tomorrow), I included in a form that she was "more than 1/16" Indian, and have requested to get the rest of the kids off forever it seems.
You see, if the kids are a fraction of an Indian or Native, gov gets more money.
The last thing I think any gov needs is more bucks...especially for racial purposes.
I am proud that my kids are making it w/o ever using the racially based programs/services that are available to them.
Equal treatment is what will end racism.
I have suggested before that you read the book "Take My Land, Take My Life" by Don Mitchell, former Vice-President and General Counsel of the Alaska Federation of Natives. If you insist on this inane diatribe of yours, you really should become educated in what you're talking about.
In my copy of the book, I keep various articles and court opinions of the status of Native/ Indian issues. It makes them easier to find, although I have some piles I need to get through; several of which will live in that book.
Besides the obvious affirmative action and other type programs, Natives, especially in Alaska, get no bid/preference bid contracts from the feds, for all over the country. (See FDNM, date line Anchorage, (the largest Native community in this state), 12/2/07, for one example I dug out).
continued:
For example, just this one article, (and I have many), points out the Native Corps dependence on( and enrichment from) federal contracts.
And these are racially based contracts.
"Clearly, the federal bidding processes are a good deal for the Native companies, their shareholders and their communities. It's not clear, however, that the American taxpayer is getting a good deal in return.
Case in point: a $475 million, nine-year border security contract, awarded without competitive bidding, to a subsidiary of the Native corporation in the village of Chenega Bay (pop 69)."
...the contract "likely did not provide the government the best value."
The contracting agency, Customs and Border Protection,
"did not effectively monitor the contract."
It was a no-bid contract "through a set-aside for disadvantaged and minority-owned 'small-businesses,' known as 8)a)."
"But Native corporations are exempt from the usual federal limits on no-bid awards to disadvantaged small business."
"Native firms enjoy other bidding advantages. A single Native firm can nab multiple federal...contracts by creating multiple subsidiaries. Native firms can enjoy their federal no-bid preference even if they have to partner with experienced contractor who can actually do the job."
You can read the rest for youself.
There's plenty more.
Even Senator Stevens brought it up and tried, (feebly), to bring these processes to light. He tried to get some oversight a few years ago, but the "Natives" squashed him.
Read the book for an accurate accounting of how the early land deals, ANCSA, and Native Corps. came about, from a major player for the Natives of Alaska. Get educated to what really came down (and still comes down) in Alaska.
There are various ballot measures up in other states against affirmative action type programs this election. It is because they are race (sometimes gender) based, are unfair, and foment hostility and racism.
Yet, the Alaska Native Corporations are always immune.
silverwindrune is correct; about what went down up here anyway.
SueD, you should read the book also. I think everyone should. It is a good, if not the best, place to start.
All I believe is that everyone should be treated equally.
Corinne -
Very nice post - thank you
I would love to see everyone that has left comments in one room. Left in a room together until they can come with helpful solutions to the local problem of racism. Besides the obvious problem of ignorance.
I'm confused I thought the us government bought the land we call alaska from the russian's, If anyone took anything from someone else it would be the russians, Right? ,
How in the world did the us goverment feel they had to uphold treaties and the like to settle the disputes in order to build a pipeline, I am white , green eyes,red hair, My grandfather was fox indian from the northern oklahoma area,(Indian territoies, in the 1800's),I have over 10 kids and raise my kids to live a productive life for themselves and their community,My Grandfather use to talk of the old ways (he Called them),and his feelings were that all people were from the land just some didn't know it, My Question to all of the alaska native people is why don't you teach the ways of your people and share the knowledge of hundreds of years with all the people of the state, I Was disappointed to find out about native land signs and no trespassing signs , I feel and was taught that we belong to the land, it doesn't belong to us, Where does your heritage that you claim is so important become overshadowed with greed!
I've had first hand experience this year of native people chasing game with four wheelers and boats. If this land is set aside for you to maintain your heritage, then your elders should see that all hunting is done the old ways.
We all need to learn to look beyond the color of a person's skin. Look inside for the real person. If you cannot look beyond a person's skin, you are a very shallow person, and you miss out on the opportunity to know many wonderful people. There are so many things about a person that are much, much, much more important than the color of skin they are wearing.
corinne-
So if you had YOUR way, Natives would no longer have any rights and then we would all be "equal" is that it?
No matter how you try to disguise it you do have obvious contempt because natives have rights that EURO-Americans do not.
Learn your history on how natives were treated and you might actually find out why we have these "racist" rights, you sound just like all the whiners that oppose casino's too, trying to rationalize stripping Natives of the rights given to them by the U.S. government FOR A GOOD REASON, not just for the fun of it or too piss off people who think it's "not fair", get over yourselves.
The basic fact that some people really don't like-
Natives were here FIRST, we called this country "home" when your ancestors thought they would fall off the edge of the earth if they tried to sail in this direction.
Now that YOUR generation is all moved in nice and comfy on OUR land you want to pretend none of the atrocities that took place to acquire the U.S. we know today ever happened, or that just because time has passed that somehow all the people MURDERED because the government wanted "farmland" doesn't mean anything and us natives should just shut our mouths, hang our heads, and forget our past, right?
WRONG
Just because the Holocaust happened "in the past" does that make it any less of an atrocity, why do you think all those Jews moved into Israel after WWII?
There is an easy solution for those of you who do not like that fact that Natives have Aboriginal rights in this country-
MOVE to a country where they do not have ANY rights, then you will have YOUR version of "equality".
And yes- Alaska was bought from Russia, so what?
Did anybody bother to check with the people that actually lived here?
(The first Russians and Americans didn't exactly do so well when they first started "colonizing" Alaska, and they thought they "owned" the land, lol, they NEEDED the original inhabitants to show them how to live here before they could do anything but scrape by, so show a little appreciation)
If you think you are so badly treated go to the native hospital in Anchorage to get counseling and sympathy, you will be with your own kind...white or black folks can't get treated there or in any of the other native health care clinics or hospitals. Or you can stay in your taxpayer provided homes in your villages and use special hunting perks that are not available to non-natives, or just go to the store and use your food stamps. Lots of native people do not live like that, they are main-stream people that contribute to society whilst enjoying the benefits of their labor. The people that whine most of all are the ones that choose to make their living out of just being their own race and demanding more....like Jesse Jackson, his profession is 'African-American'. We were here first, the evil white man forced booze down our gullets, the evil white man took our land away, etc, etc. Face it; you are a defeated people, just like defeated people throughout history (except that you get special benefits for your ancestors defeat). Move on, stand on your hind legs and make something of yourself....quit whining and get on with it. I will probably hear a whine-a-thon about this, but I am embarassed, when I see-as someone else wrote- A drunken native laying on the sidewalk in his own vomit wearing a 'Native Pride' baseball cap.
Can anyone tell me if any Natives voted for Alaska to become a State?
If so....then didn't they kinda go along with THIS land becoming part of the United States of America?
Once again, do not distort what I have clearly said. The issue is not rights, it is race-based entitlements/programs.
All I can say to you Lost is,
I suggest you file a suit in the Federal Court of Claims in DC to get us all kicked out then, since your entire premise is always based on who was here first and nothing else.
And don't forget: you'll have to figure how you're going to determine just who you want out of here.
Because an awful lot of indigenous people have varying degrees of mixed blood.
Where would you draw the line? 100%? 75%? 1/2? 1/4? 1/16?
Furthermore, I suggest you study up on Kennewick man. It has been a big, (though kept quiet), deal because it challenges assumptions about the origins of who was actually here first.
Although Mr. Gilbert is misguided when he assumes the problems are due to "apprehensiveness toward dark-skinned people taught to you by your paranoid anglo parents,"
it is just as much a problem for kids to be taught hatred and blame towards whites by bitter, hateful, and misinformed dark-skinned parents.
You make that very, very clear.
oh but they are rights (granted by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT) corinne, LOOK IT UP.
And SO WHAT if they are "ethnic based"? duhh! Native Americans are a different ethnic group than Euro-Americans, didn't you know that?
Ask a government official why natives are allowed to have their rights because you obviously either don't want to accept it or you just plain don't understand.
If you really actually knew something about the way Native tribes operate in this country you wouldn't be so confused, only by being native can you know what it is like to be native, otherwise you're just on the outside looking in.
MY culture is not just some novelty "religion" that anybody can just join like Christianity and our rights are not just some "free handouts", it's not like Natives are going to come burn your houses down and move you all onto a reservation just because we have IHS.
If you don't think our rights are fair then petition to the government to have them removed, simple as that, but you won't get very far and you'll most likely be labeled a racist (and rightly so).
Learn your history people, there is a REASON why we have "Native rights".
akguy-
uhhhhh, how would Alaska natives vote for Alaska to become a state if it wasn't a state yet?
And when I see DUNKEN REDNECKS in the paper EVERYDAY getting busted for DWI, DUI, RECKLESS DRIVING, DOMESTIC ASSAULT, THEFT, ROBBERY- etc. etc.
I get sick because people like "gildy" IGNORES all that and just wants to PRETEND that Natives are the OOOOOONLY people getting drunk in Fairbanks, look at the public safety reports and tell me I'm wrong.
Oh I forgot the public shootings too, but I guess that's just Black people right? because white people have some type of god given RIGHT to just behave however they want and it's okay, but If somebody that is NOT white makes the paper it's turned into a BIIIG DEEEEAL and ALLLLLL the Natives are just drunken freeloaders who don't even deserve a voice.
The whole world can watch what you people write on here, talk about giving your culture a bad name.
lol, corinne- you're really trying but I wouldn't be saying the things I say here if I did not already know I was right, I read up on Kennewick man and asked my cousin who happens to have a PHD in anthropology and he confirmed what I read-
"Kennewick Man was in fact not European but rather resembled south Asians and the Ainu people of northeast Asia. The results of a graphic comparison, including size, of Kennewick Man to 18 modern populations conducted by anthropologist James Chatters to determine the skeleton’s relation to modern ancestry showed that he was most closely related to the Ainu. However, when size was excluded as a factor, no association to any population was established." okay so big deal? who doesn't know that Alaska natives and several lower48 tribes have very similar language because they all migrated from the same area (north east Asia), so all Kennewick man does is prove what we already know.
So is this the evidence you need to put Natives back in subjugation? take the rest of the land we have and shut down our casino's?
Would you make Alaska natives live in town and not allow them to speak their own language so we can all be "equal"?, as is YOUR logic on how we are to be equal.
No? it's not like that? how about this-
I would like to have your house then, it doesn't matter (as you put it) that you are there first, I have MORE of a need for it than you do ESPECIALLY if it is bigger than mine because that means we are not "equal". Or maybe if mine is bigger than yours is that wrong too? what if I inherited the money to buy my house, would that not make us "equal" and therefore I should give up what I have because you don't have as much?
What if I were a Canadian that got to work in the U.S. WITHOUT PAYING TAXES, and could still live in Canada?
Americans are NOT allowed to work in Canada, yet OUR government allows their citizens make money here without even paying taxes, look it up.
or is that okay too because they're white and it's only Natives who shouldn't have special "privileges"?
There are a few racist comments in this thread, by my oh my, gildy.....you are close to the top of the heap of the most bigoted folks I've come across!
Native Alaskans are a defeated people? I don't think so, gildy! You have defeated yourself and you don't even know why. That is sad.
mmafan said....
"hahahahaha - Matt your an idiot. But more power to ya. hahahahaa. Funny thing is i've meet you before and you weren't impressive than and your worst off now.hhahahaaa"
Quite a brash statement, mmafan, for someone who does not know the English language very well.
Lost-just out of curiosity do you know where the Asians came from?
Question for all those out there that are less than 100% pure blooded Indian/Eskimo .....which side do you follow? Curious. Mine are 1/2 Athabascan and were always told that if they follow the prejudices of the 'white side' then they are disrepecting me and if they follow the prejudices of the 'native side' they are disrespecting their dad. So be careful, very careful in the way your words are spoken and written because you may be disrespecting your parents, grandparents, and all those that have traveled down the road before you.
Yeah, Asians come from Asia.
Aleut Come from Alaska, Chippewa come from the Midwest, Navajo come from the southwest, Seminoles come from Florida, etc. etc.
Whats your point icerider?
From Wiki-
"Racism in the United States has been a major issue since the colonial era. Historically, the country has been dominated by a settler society of religiously and ethnically diverse whites.
Major racially structured institutions include slavery, settlement, Indians reservations, segregation, residential schools (for Native Americans), and internment camps. Racial stratification has occurred in employment, housing, education and government.
Racial discrimination was largely criminalized in the mid-20th century, and it became socially unacceptable or morally repugnant as well, but major inequalities still persist and racial politics remain a major phenomena.
Racist attitudes, or prejudice, are still held by moderate portions of the U.S population. Members of every American ethnic group have perceived racism in their dealings with other groups.
Hundreds of native peoples made up of millions of individuals occupied the lands that would become the United States of America. During the colonial and independent periods, a long series of Indian Wars were fought with the primary objective of obtaining much of North America as territory of the U.S. Through wars, massacre, forced displacement (such as in the Trail of Tears), restriction of food rights, and the imposition of treaties, land was taken and numerous hardships imposed. Ideologies justifying the context included stereotypes of Native Americans as "merciless Indian savages" (as described in the United States Declaration of Independence) and the quasi-religious doctrine of Manifest Destiny which asserted divine blessing for U.S. conquest of all lands west of the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific. The most rapid invasion occurred in the California gold rush, the first two years of which saw the deaths of tens of thousands of Indians. Following the 1848 American invasion, Native Californians were enslaved in the new state from statehood in 1850 to 1867.[3]
Military and civil resistance by Native Americans has been a constant feature of American history. So too have a variety of debates around issues of sovereignty, the upholding of treaty provisions, and the civil rights of Native Americans under U.S. law."
continued from Wiki-
"Once their territories were incorporated into the United States, surviving Native Americans were denied equality before the law and often treated as wards of the state. Many Native Americans were relegated to reservations--constituting just 4% of U.S. territory--and the treaties signed with them violated. Tens of thousands of American Indians and Alaska Natives were forced to attend a residential school system which sought to reeducate them in white settler American values, culture and economy--to "kill the Indian, sav[ing] the man."
Further dispossession continued through concessions for industries such as oil, mining and timber and through division of land through legislation such as the Allotment Act. These concessions have raised problems of consent, exploitation of low royalty rates, environmental injustice, and gross mismanagement of funds held in trust, resulting in the loss of $10-40 billion. The Worldwatch Institute notes that 317 reservations are threatened by environmental hazards, while Western Shoshone land has been subjected to more than 1,000 nuclear explosions.
While formal equality has been legally granted, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders remain among the most economically disadvantaged groups in the country, and suffer from high levels of alcoholism and suicide."
Put that in your pipes and smoke on it.
And besides icerider, they have found evidence of native people in this country that is over 10,000 years old.
And here we go again!
My children are 1/2 Koyukon Athabascan. My daughter looks like her father and my son looks like me. And I am not talking facial features. Because of the difference in their skin color I bet you that he will feel racism more so then she will.....IF WE LIVED IN FAIRBANKS ALASKA!!!!!
How many so called Alaska Natives know the bible is used as a legal precedent to take over Native Lands? Genesis 1:28 was used by the United States Supreme Court to legalize the infamous Cherokee Trail of Tears and has been employed in every major decision stripping Natives of their lands and rights.
You can't get win any decisions if you're worshipping the same bastardized version of Christianity the Colonials worship, that is 180 degrees opposite of what their white mans Jesus lived and breathed, that states that you're lands and rights are okay to seize.
Goes hand in hand with what the non natives are foisting on you. Hell.. The Alaska Natives have to buy back the same lands they owned until the white man stole it..
while it's convenient to state these arguments in terms of race, that approach is not in alignment with facts.
we're talking about sovereign nations within a nation.
political entities, not racial groups.
I think the real issue is that someone's deceased white ancestors did wrong to someones deceased native ancestors. These people involved in this mess are dead or very elderly. Why should someone else pay for their wrongs?
Also, Native Pride hats, jackets, etc. are a divider amongst people. If people wore black pride hats or white pride hats they would be seen as racist. What is the purpose of these "pride" hats? I hate to sound corny but we are all one people of many colors.
Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world!
why? because there were solemn treaties signed, in which things like shoes, blankets, food and medicine, and regular cash allowances were promised in exchange for land.
if your grampa bought land with a clear title, and died before it was paid off, you cant just say, "i dont owe this money" and keep living there.
We all breath to stay alive, we all bleed red, no matter who, or what ever it is we think we all are...
in the past few months i think the service at Dennys has gotten a lot better
No Lost-Asians came from Europe before it was considered Europe and before that the African contenent, where it is believed all life began. before it was Africa. With the exceptions of the African Natives no one can claim they came from the land they inhabit. We all came from different places and took different directions to get here. We are all born of the same earth, related by ancestory but divided by culture and should treat each other with respect and compassion. I asked a simple question and expected a simple answer and if you had read my posts you would have seen that I agree with you on the history and plight of Native Americans, as well as Native Alaskans. I merely wanted you to appreciate the fact that we are all related.
And besides Lost if a person can trace their ancestors back to the begining of life on earth does that mean they were here first and we should all leave? Or perhaps we should give the earth back to the animals since their roots can be traced millions of years farther back than ours. We must remember the past so as not to repeat it, but we must forgive it and move on so that we can live together peacefully.
so whats the point of all this rambling about "equality" and "were all related"?
Are you folks trying to say natives don't deserve their aboriginal rights because life started in Africa?
Or I guess because those atrocities happened "in the past" that now it doesn't matter?
There are still atrocities happening to native people every day in this country, anybody that denies or downplays that fact are just showing their ignorance and contempt for people that live "differently".
The Feds ALLOW us our rights for good reasons, and if you are ignorant to those reasons then you need to get an education before you pass judgment about a people you know nothing about.
Okay Asians come from Europe, so Asians are Europeans and Europeans are Africans?
Plus it's pretty hard to defend your land when your enemy slaughters your women and children along with using biological warfare, all with the advantage of technology and greater numbers and immunity to common diseases that were fatal to natives.
IF the Japanese HAD taken Hawaii, even if it were 100 years ago, there would STILL be Americans screaming to get that land back and you all know it.
Or would you all still say-
"it happened in the past so it doesn't matter now"
Just to justify taking away MORE of the RIGHTS Natives have had since before any Americans even existed.
No matter how you try to disguise your varying degrees of contempt you cannot justify making American Aboriginals "equal" to Euro-American "settlers", without being as ignorant as the people who chose to slaughter Natives in the first place.
If you really want "equality" then recognize and understand the rights my culture has and leave it at that, you people should be worrying about the rights YOU have and what might be threatening THEM instead of commenting about people you don't even have anything to do with.
If any of you were to inherit a large amount of money and land from a relative you never met would you just "give it up" because most people you know don't have the same "privileges"?
Nobody could blame ANY of you for keeping what is-
RIGHTFULLY YOURS.
The Russians took my homeland - they slaughtered, ran-off and 'bred' my 'white' ancestors almost out of existence...
Wonder if I can sue Putin for something....ah - shucks - my grand parents left the oppression for a new life in America - and now I have a better life...
why live in the past when you can enjoy the present
Are you saying Russians are Native Americans now?
Besides, if anybody is "Caucasian" it would be Russians.
Alright, so if I stole from you(akguy), like stole your property and killed your family "in the past" would that make it alright, would you just hang YOUR head while people then go on to insult you every time you or your family was mentioned in the paper?
Who ever said anything about "suing" anybody anyway?
Man, you guys are desperate to make Native Americans look bad aren't you?
You ARE making SOMEBODY look bad, and it's not Native Americans.
read The River people.Gives a good explanation of how people came to alaska from the Russin plans.
What about the viking boat dated 5000 years ago found on the east or west coast?The movie Pathfinder might have some truth in it.
Both of those things explain my fathers tribes blue eyes.
there is a song, take a look at yourself before you accuse me. I have been accused of being a racist, and I am when it is thrown in my direction, if you want to be disrespectful, you will recieve it in kind
"No matter how you try to disguise your varying degrees of contempt you cannot justify making American Aboriginals "equal" to Euro-American "settlers", without being as ignorant as the people who chose to slaughter Natives in the first place."
And there you have it.
The Lost One finally comes through.
He believes we aren't equal; that "Native" Americans are 'more' equal than "Euro-American 'settlers.'"
Incidently, Oh Lost One,
I believe you have posted in the past that you are not a full, 100% blood, "Native" American.
"If you really want "equality" then recognize and understand the rights my culture has and leave it at that, you people should be worrying about the rights YOU have and what might be threatening THEM instead of commenting about people you don't even have anything to do with."
Well, we're commenting on this because, as you always loudly proclaim for yourself, we also enjoy freedom of speech. Oh yeah, and it happens to be the topic at hand.
Besides, we all have the same rights; it is race (not ethnic) based entitlements (you refuse to learn the distinction between the two) many of us say perpetuates racism;
and indeed, engenders it where it didn't otherwise exist.
Further, it is the height of ignorance and arrogance to constantly presume to know that none of us has anything to do with indigenous people, or knows anything about their ways, simply because you disagree with a comment.
To the contrary, you have attacked many posters who have stated they also have "native" blood. Or, like me, have kids with "native" blood, or spouses, or family...
You are an example of contradiction; you have been since you began posting some months ago on this issue.
You attack anyone and everyone who may even only in part disagree with you, all the while rudely, (but correctly), proclaiming your right to express your opinion.
You make outrageous assumptions, and accuse others of doing it if you don't like what they say.
Once again--just for you--I'll break my code on not calling names, and call a spade a spade:
You are a self-righteous, racist ignoramus who (apparently) excels only in contradiction and hypocricy; and delights in self-pity and fomenting racism.
I said you shouldn't make stupid comments in the sense that it makes you look bad, I never said "you're not ALLOWED to", but go ahead and knock yourselves out.
This just in-
The rate of American Soldiers committing suicide has now surpassed the rate of the U.S. general population.
This is the last comment I will post on this thread as I have stated my point more than clearly enough for literate people to understand anyway.
There are other things you people should be worrying about besides what kind of rights natives have compared to the rights YOU have.
This country is no utopia by any means at this point and you can't blame ANY of it on native people so stop acting like natives are doing any harm to our society just because the government has tried to reconcile some of the wrong done to Natives by granting us our rights and privileges.
We can't go back to the old ways so WE are the ones that had to adapt to YOUR way of life, and are still 'adapting" to this day.
What does US Soldiers have to do with this?And you can go back to the old ways if you wanted to.But you don't want to.
That would mean no cars or fourwheelers.Computers or cell phones.let alone power and land line phones.no guns for hunting.
Honestly you seem like you hate every one and anyone.Corinne makes a good point after looking at your other post's you really like to play the race card.Hard and heavy.
No one forces you to use any of the items that are used every day.You could set up school's that teach the old ways and the goverment would allow that to pass as an education for your kids.
Lost- No one one this website has to do anything to make Native Americans look bad, you do that all by yourself. The point was that Native Americans were not the first people on earth so you have no more claim to mother earth than anyone else. In addition since you are Native American and not Native Alaskan you are stealing from the Native Alaskans and certainly have no more rights to the land or its riches than anyone else born in Alaska. Your rights are with your tribe in the lower 48 and if all but Native Alaskans should leave that includes you. You do not write in a literate manner, just the opposite, you ramble on and on going in circles without meaning or purpose. You continually flip flop on the issues and when called on it you run away and hide. Please excuse the harsh language but ignorance is a disease, and need an emergency room and team of specialists. Have a nice day.
BTW- aboriginal as it relates to people-of or relating to aborigines: of or relating to the indigenous peoples of Australia.
The context you are using it in pertains to geological or botanical species, in other words, aboriginal forrest is correct, American Aboriginals is not.
silverwindrune-Thank you for being a voice of reason. I want to appoligize if I was overly critical of your opinions in earlier posts. I sometimes feel that everyone should help people in need, but realize we must all go our own way.
Icerider
Thank you I try.It's okay i was looking for a debate and got one from you.Yes we should help those in need but we need to look at the sitution and decide if helping is going to work.From past experince if you are weary of others as the CI's are then it will take some one they can relate to to help them.And if your not the right color you'll be pushed aside and ignored.
silverwindrune-You are so right. Thank you for the reply.
Icerider
Thank you as well you at least made me think and not react.
The racism was from lost and i didn't point out im sorry for that.
Thanks for the great debate
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